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Baylor settles lawsuit with woman who said players raped her

By Associated Press

2018/07/14 08:21

WACO, Texas (AP) — Baylor University on Friday settled a federal Title IX lawsuit brought by a former volleyball player who alleged that she was drugged and gang raped by at least four football players in 2012.

Terms of the settlement with the woman, identified in court papers only as Jane Doe, were not disclosed.

It's the fifth Title IX lawsuit the university has settled, according to the Waco Tribune-Herald. Fifteen former students who say they were sexually assaulted still have ongoing litigation with the nation's largest Baptist school.

Baylor, meanwhile, also has reached settlement agreements with at least three women who did not file lawsuits, the newspaper reported.

In a statement on Friday's settlement, the university said its new leadership team is "steadfast in our commitment to properly respond to incidents of sexual assault, interpersonal violence and harassment."

The new leadership includes university President Linda Livingstone, who was named to the position last year.

Jane Doe's lawsuit contained explicit details of what she described as a gang rape that may have involved as many as eight players. Players told one another to grab her phone and delete their numbers and texts following the incident at an off-campus apartment, according to the Tribune-Herald.

Freshmen players were charged with bringing women to parties where they were drugged and accosted, the lawsuit alleged.

Just last month the university had moved to dismiss the suit, arguing Jane Doe was using "inflammatory allegations and speculation about sexual assaults of other women" to bolster her own claims.

Allegations against football players led to the firing in 2016 of coach Art Briles and university President Ken Starr, and gave way to broader criticism of how officials for years failed to properly respond to claims of sexual assault by students.

The result was several Title IX lawsuits filed against the school. Title IX bars discrimination on the basis of sex in education and the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that schools must address sexual assault under the terms of Title IX.